Analogman/Keeley-modded Ts9 vs. Fulldrive

[teXum]

I'm considering one of these pedals, but I guess they're kind of similiar. Anyone have a favourite? What about using one as a overdrive and the other as a boost?

[Tim Bowen]

I've not heard the Keeley, but have been extremely pleased with the mods he recently did on my Sparkle Drive. I do have an Analog Man-modded TS-9 & the newest version of the Fulldrive. The chips & basic tones of those pedals are similar, but other than that, they're really quite different.

Analog Mike set out to get as sonically close to a TS-808 as possible, which he accomplished. With the Fulldrive, that basic tone was tweaked & optimized to Mike Fuller's liking. Fulldrive has more output & headroom, better bass, & less honky mids than the TS. TS has a somewhat gritty character, while the Fulldrive is smoother. TS is buffered, FDII is true bypass. What's better? Depends on your needs & your amp... with some amps, the attenuated bass & stronger mids of a standard TS are exactly the ticket for cutting through a loud rhythm section. Both are cool, depends on what you want.

I do know some guys that have run FDII & TS in tandem, but it's usually guys that play blackface/silverface Fenders, or amps of that ilk. If you pair that combo with an amp that has prominent mids, such as Vox, it's usually too fat & pregnant sounding.

For running that combo, my preference would be guitar > TS > Fulldrive > amp, because the Fulldrive has more output & headroom. If you reverse the order, the tone is more compressed with less perceived volume. BTW, goosing the FDII with a TS has a different tone & response than engaging the boost function on the FDII.

There's been a few variations of the FDII through the years, & the differences are subtle or huge, depending on how you hear things. The newer model FDII can grok the tones of previous models, plus have the option of sounding more open, less compressed, & more 'amp-like', via the onboard toggle switch. The stacked gain boost on newer models sounds better than previous models to my ear.

[JerryPro]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

I do know some guys that have run FDII & TS in tandem, but it's usually guys that play blackface/silverface Fenders, or amps of that ilk.

I play through Deluxe Reverb amps and I run Revererend Drivetrain II in tandem with a Tubescreamer or an Ibanez Fat Cat. This depends on the level and type of distortion that I want. The Drivetrain is set up almost clean and drives the other pedals. This sounds really, really, amazingly good.

I would imagine it would be similiar to what you are describing above.

Back to the original question. I have heard very good things about all three of the mentioned pedals. It will probably boil down to a matter of personal preference.

[Tim Bowen]

Right on Jerry, that's a potent combo with a sweet sounding Deluxe.